Preface

— By Yasuhiro Seino (Representative and Co-Director of ALIVE)

There have been several gruesome animal abuse cases recently despite the enactment of the revised Act on Welfare and Management of Animals. It seems that the revision of the act has been recognized by only a relatively small number of people. Moreover, although the revised act is considered an improvement over the previous legislation and has been positively evaluated, the recent animal abuse cases have given us some fresh challenges that we are currently addressing. As our immediate aim, we believe it is important to disseminate the contents of the new act widely among the police and the general public. Over the medium term, our goal is to inform the general public about the actual welfare situation of experimental animals and livestock in order that we can carry out effective advocacy activities for the improvement of their welfare.

ALIVE considers the most important issue that currently needs to be addressed is to establish some kind of legal regulation or protection for animals that are continually ignored but frequently used for experimental and agricultural purposes, and we have put a considerable amount of effort and time into researching this area.

To thoroughly disseminate the information about the revised animal act and the position of pets under the new act will require a collective effort by the membership of ALIVE. Holding panel exhibitions and distributing flyers are excellent means of gaining publicity but please also consider attaching leaflets to your own daily items such as cars and bags. When talking with your friends, if a topic relating to animal suffering comes up, please take this as a good “opportunity!” to spread the word, and also consider leaving pamphlets or flyers at organic restaurants or cafés, or handing ALIVE flyers to political candidates who are giving speeches on the street.

ALIVE supplies materials for distribution purposes free of charge, so if you need any flyers of leaflets for this purpose, please contact the ALIVE office.